St. James's Place

St. James's Place is fine example of a Georgian terrace. It was built in 1808. There were to be 6 houses in the terrace, however the builder, John Anderson, was made a bankrupt before No. 6 was started and No. 6 was never built. In the late nineteenth century an extension was built onto No. 1.

The convent of the Little Company of Mary or The Blue Nuns as they are known locally, came to Fermoy in 1902 on the invitation of the then Bishop of Cloyne, Dr. Browne. Three nuns opened a convent at No 1 and remained there until they moved to their present convent on Monument Hill in 1912.

During the 1960's and 70's, the Georgian terrace went into decline. By the start of the 1980's the whole terrace was in a dilapidated state with most of the houses let out in flats. The terrace reached its nadir when No. 1 was condemned as being unfit for human occupation.

The restoration of the terrace was begun in 1984 by Dr. Dympna Murray when she established her general practice in No. 4. Donal O'Lochlainn and Edna English continued with No. 1 in 1986. Sadly it was too late for No. 5, it collapsed in 1990. No. 3 was restored in 1992 by John Downey and Ann Corby. No 5 was rebuilt in 1994 by Dr. Murray. St. James's Place is once again returning to its former glory.